


Beneath the Emo Tree

by ladydragon76



Category: Transformers - All Media Types, Transformers Generation One
Genre: M/M, Talk of suicidal feelings, heinous things done to newsparks mentioned but not in detail
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-14
Updated: 2016-05-14
Packaged: 2018-06-08 08:18:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,431
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6846721
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ladydragon76/pseuds/ladydragon76
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p><b>Summary:</b> This planet sucks out loud, just ask Sunstreaker, he'll tell you.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Beneath the Emo Tree

**Author's Note:**

  * For [LB82](https://archiveofourown.org/users/LB82/gifts).



> **'Verse:** G1  
>  **Series:** None  
>  **Rating:** PG-13  
>  **Characters:** Sunstreaker, Sideswipe, Ratchet, Sunstorm  
>  **Warnings:** Talk of suicidal feelings, heinous things done to newsparks mentioned but not in detail,  
>  **Notes:** Not my usual Sunstorm, but this was going to be a part of an OLD- I mean OLD RP and the idea there came from an off-hand snarky comment. Instead I'm adjusting the idea to be its own ficcy since the Twin did art so long ago for it, and I want it to have some life, so tadaa~

There wasn't a single thing about this mission Sunstreaker was enjoying. Not only were they hunting Shockwave's crazy, defunct experimental Seeker, but they were doing it on this nasty, dreary, organic mudball with thick heavy clouds and smelly air.

And he'd thought Earth could be bad?

Primus sure liked to make certain that anytime anyone thought it couldn't get worse, that they learned what 'worse' really was.

"Stop dragging your damn feet, Sunstreaker."

Oh yeah, and they had Ratchet with them, snarking and impatient, but utterly necessary because _of course_ Prime didn't want them to just kill the Seeker and save the risk to everyone if he figured out how to get all glowy and radioactive again. Or if Megatron captured him and did it for him. But hey, what did Sunstreaker know?

 _Sunny,_ Sideswipe sighed over the bond.

_Shut up. I'm not wrong, and you know it._

Sideswipe glanced back, but he didn't argue. Good thing, because at this point, Sunstreaker was just waiting for the chance to punch something. Or someone. Preferably someone responsible for putting half the Autobots in quarantine even if they weren't wounded.

A wave of impatience and annoyance came over the bond, and Sunstreaker growled at his twin and promptly blocked the bond off. Ratchet gave them both a _look_ , but on they trekked, having to _walk_ because the terrain was uneven and rough, and here and there and everywhere rocks jutted up too high for low-slung Lamborghini alts unless they wanted their undercarriages ripped to shreds. The rocks were a slightly lighter grey than the grey dirt, which was lighter than the grey-aft sky with its pewter and black clouds that roiled and twisted ominously all around them. The air felt charged, like the way it did on Earth before the loud summer thunderstorms, but the storm never broke here. Now and then they would see a gnarled, ugly tree in the distance. From black trunks hung long trails of blue-black, sickly leaves.

There wasn't a single thing of beauty here. Certainly no way for a Seeker to make energon. Pits, they could just leave the glitch and he'd probably end up Empty and eat any of the Decepticons that came for him and tried to take him back to Cybertron.

Sunstreaker winced. All right, that was a bit more cruel than he usually was. Starvation was a horrible way for a mech to go.

For hours, they trudged along, Ratchet following a faint radiation trail. It wasn't enough to harm them anymore, and it was fading the longer the Seeker was without his power source, but it was there. It led them to a sight Sunstreaker could only shake his helm at. The Seeker sat curled under one of the hideous trees, arms hugging his knees while he stared listlessly off into the distance.

"Fucking finally," Sunstreaker grumbled and strode forward. "Hey!" he shouted. The Seeker barely stirred.

"Sunstreaker, wait!" Ratchet said. "He could be faking it."

"He could also be hurt or something, isn't that why you're here?" Sunstreaker shot back. He trotted along the hillside, Sideswipe following at first, but then his twin slowed as Sunstreaker stomped on.

"Sunny?" Sideswipe called in a worried tone. "Wait a sec. Can't you feel that?"

Sunstreaker felt something, but his irritation held it at bay- until he was under the tree with the Seeker. Pale yellow optics looked up at the golden warrior, all the sadness of the universe in them, and Sunstreaker sank slowly to his knees.

"Are you going to kill me?" Sunstorm asked.

Was he, Sunstreaker wondered as he sat next to the Decepticon.

 _Sunny!_ Sideswipe snapped, pushing through the block that Sunstreaker had let slip a little.

"You gonna kill me?" Sunstreaker asked instead.

Sunstorm shook his helm, optics welling over. Then he was curling into Sunstreaker's side to sniffle pathetically and cling. Sunstreaker sighed over how ruined his finish was going to be and hugged the Seeker back.

~

"Ratch!" Sideswipe snatched the medic back by his shoulders. "Something's wrong."

Ratchet arched an optic ridge and gestured toward Sunstreaker and Sunstorm. "Ya don't say."

Sideswipe ignored the sarcasm and dragged Ratchet back away from the tree until he couldn't feel… _it_ anymore except from his twin. "No, I mean, something's _really_ wrong, and if we go over there, it'll be wrong with us too." He focused on Sunstreaker for a moment. _Hey, Sunshine. I need you to get up and walk back over here to me. Can you do that?_

_Why?_

_Because I think something's up with that tree,_ Sideswipe replied. He received a sigh in return.

"What's going on?" Ratchet asked.

"I told him I needed him to come here and he asked why." Sideswipe shook his helm. "He feels… sad. Like… Primus, Ratchet, so frelling _sad_."

Ratchet cast the tree and the pair beneath it a worried glance. "Too sad to move even with his twin asking him to." It wasn't a question, but Sideswipe nodded all the same. Ratchet verbalizing it made it worse.

_Sunny?_

_Just leave, Sides. There's no point._

_There's every point, bro. I need you._ Sideswipe bit his lip, spark beginning to pound and his lines feel too cold. Nothing scared him. Except losing Sunstreaker.

 _No, you don't,_ Sunstreaker replied, the bond heavy with guilt as well as sadness now. _Everyone adores you. They'll be glad I'm gone so they can have you to themselves._

_Bro, they don't get me to themselves. I go where you go, remember?_

_No,_ Sunstreaker said, but there was no heat at all in the word. _You won't die too. You're too strong. Always been the stronger of the two of us. Me gone will free you. You won't be that maniac's twin anymore._

Sunstreaker's vents hitched, and Sideswipe thought his spark was going to shatter. He turned to Ratchet. "Help."

"How?" Ratchet looked toward Sunstreaker, optics narrowed as he thought about it.

"Rope!" Sideswipe said and snapped his fingers. "We've got rope."

"So lasso them?" Ratchet asked doubtfully, but Sideswipe was already shaking his helm and digging into his subspace for the rope.

"Nope. You're gonna tie it on me. Nice and tight and in a way I can't escape," Sideswipe said, dragging out the rope and shoving it into the medic's hands. "Then I'm going to run in there, grab my brother, and you're gonna drag us out."

"The Seeker," Ratchet said.

"Frag the Seeker," Sideswipe snapped, holding out his arms so Ratchet could begin knotting something of a harness around him.

"Something you two- well, no one but Command was privy to," the medic said, fingers working deftly. "Sunstorm's not some soldier. He's a newspark, or near enough for it to count."

Sideswipe's arms dropped, and he stared at Ratchet, gaping. "Where'd Shockwave get a damn newspark from?!"

Ratchet shook his helm. "Where most Seekers get them from without Vector Sigma. Or at least that's what we think."

Sideswipe breathed a curse. "'Cons are messed the hell up. Who would turn their sparkling over to Shockwave?"

"Who indeed?" Ratchet said. "Though we also don't think anyone was given a choice in the matter. Part of the reason we want to bring Sunstorm in alive is to show Megatron. More importantly, to show Starscream. He's a fragged up glitch, but he's still a Seeker. Shockwave's a dead mech unless Starscream really is beyond all hope and doesn't care about the Seekers, and there's very little Megatron can do about it even if he did approve Shockwave's experiments."

"Frag me," Sideswipe said on an exhalation.

"There," Ratchet said, and wrapped the end of the rope around one hand while stepping back to brace his feet on the far side of a rock from where Sunstreaker and Sunstorm were.

Sideswipe gave the medic a nod then cycled his vents and dashed forward, trying not to breath, unsure just _what_ it was that caused the sadness. Clearly it wasn't the air because as he reached his twin, he was glad to be there so he could just sit down and be done with the day. With a strength of will he didn't know he had, he fell to his knees and locked his arms around his twin. He couldn't grab Sunstorm too, but… well, maybe that was for the best?

But then Ratchet was pulling, and all three of them were moving. Sideswipe almost let go, but Sunstreaker whimpered another half-sob sound, and ages' long habit and spark-deep need made Sideswipe hold tighter instead. It was a long drag, and the sadness and pointlessness only deepened as Sideswipe's aft carved a deep gouge in the grey dirt. Stones scraped with a screech of metal, but he couldn't bring himself to care. He knew it was wrong, and so did Sunstreaker. This wasn't normal or right, but… he just didn't _care_.

~

Slowly, inch by inch, Ratchet towed three heavy mechs away from the tree. There was no pulling with his arms. He slung the rope over his shoulder, dug into the ground and _pulled_ with all his weight and determination. He was a strong mech to start with, but none of the three at the other end of the rope were light.

Finally, Ratchet got them to the stones where he and Sideswipe had stood, and he stared back at them. His spark pulsed hard from the exertion, but also fear. He didn't dare approach in case it was contagious- whatever _it_ was. It hurt to watch Sunstreaker weeping into his twin's shoulder. Though maybe it was a positive sign that Sideswipe merely clung back and stared up at the dark clouds? Sunstorm was showing his age and the abuse he'd suffered all his life. His cries were particularly wrenching, and despite his adult frame, the sobs rang with the same note wounded sparklings cried with. It made Ratchet ache to go to them, scoop all three up, and make it all better.

Logic prevailed, however, and the medic made himself sit down, fearful of having to leave them to return for the shuttle. He would though if he had to. He was the only one that could get them all off this damn planet now. An hour. He'd give them an hour to return to something approaching normal, then he'd go.

An hour passed way too fast, so Ratchet gave them another one, and just when he was trying to find an excuse to wait just _one more_ hour, Sideswipe twisted around to look for him. Blue optics shuttered in relief, then opened.

And Sideswipe smiled.

Ratchet felt tension rush from him so fast he was left dizzy for a moment. "Hey, glitch. Wanna go home? I want to go home."

"Home is good," Sunstreaker said, a note of embarrassment in his voice.

Cautious, scanners on full, Ratchet rose and slowly approached the trio. Sunstorm blinked tired, dull optics up at the medic, lower lip still poking out, but Ratchet thought that might have to do with his life situation rather than the tree's influence. "How're you guys feeling?"

"Tired and sore," Sunstreaker grumped, and Sideswipe nodded.

"Exhausted. Like I haven't recharged in a week," the red twin replied.

Ratchet tipped his helm to the side and looked straight at Sunstorm. When that didn't get him an answer he asked, "And you?"

"I don't want to go home." It was telling that the words came out on a whimper and more tears rolled free of the Seeker's optics.

"How about we take you to our home, clean you up, repair you, get you some decent energon, and make sure Shockwave can never get his hands on you again?" Ratchet asked.

"Don't you want to kill me?" Sunstorm asked. "I hurt mechs."

"Do you want to hurt them more?" Ratchet asked, and smiled a little when Sunstorm shook his head rather vigorously. "Then we don't want to hurt you." He crouched so he could untie the rope harness. "We don't hurt mechs who don't hurt us."

"You chased me," Sunstorm pouted.

"Had to," Sideswipe replied with a grin. "You ran."

Sunstorm blinked at that. "Oh."

Ratchet pulled the last knot free. "Come on. And let's keep our distance from those trees on the way back to the shuttle.

"Good idea," Sunstreaker said and scrubbed his hands over his face. "That was frelling awful and I do _not_ want to go through it again."

Ratchet wound the rope while the other three found their feet, then passed it back to Sideswipe. "We'll be careful. Let's go."

~ | ~

Sunstorm laughed as he twisted in the air and dodged Air Raid's reaching hand.

"He's doing better," Sideswipe said, optics on the sky and the flyers playing tag in it as he approached Ratchet.

"Lots better."

"Screamer really didn't know Shockwave stole some of his CNA?" Sunstreaker asked, tone disbelieving.

"Yeah," Sideswipe added on a laugh. "You'd think a mech would notice. But ew!"

"Primus, you idiots, there're other ways to get a CNA sample." Ratchet took a swipe at him, and Sideswipe let it land.

"Still. Ew," Sunstreaker said.

Beside Sideswipe, Ratchet shook his helm. "No, he didn't know, and I'm frankly relieved that Megatron didn't know about it either. He's a glitched bastard, but he's not as far gone as I was afraid of when we learned about Sunstorm."

"Small miracles," Sideswipe said, then pinged Sunstorm's comms. // _Come on down, bitlet. You need to refuel._ // The young Seeker had taken it into his head that the twins were safe and good, and somehow they ended up serving as his caretakers. It wasn't a bad job at all.

Sunstorm artfully dodged another hand then dove for the ground.

"Still want to know where Shockwave got his spark from," Sunstreaker said, but he kept his tone low as Sunstorm approached.

"We might never know," Ratchet replied, then smiled as Sunstorm swooped in and landed. "How does flying feel?" he asked. "No aches in the wings or anywhere?"

"No, sir," Sunstorm said, then dutifully took the cube of energon from Sideswipe. "It's fun."

Sideswipe smiled and took the empty cube back. "Twenty more minutes, then it's time to come in for your lessons, ok?"

A lower lip stuck out in a fast pout, but then Sunstorm said, "Ok," and launched to make the most of those twenty minutes.

"Damn, but I really think I like him," Sunstreaker muttered with a shake of his helm.

Ratchet laughed, and Sideswipe pulled his twin in against his side so he couldn't escape a loud, smacking kiss. "I like him too," Sideswipe said, then looked up again to watch Sunstorm play.

**Author's Note:**

> [Beneath the Emo Tree by LB82](http://archiveofourown.org/works/7263469)

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [Beneath the Emo Tree](https://archiveofourown.org/works/7263469) by [LB82](https://archiveofourown.org/users/LB82/pseuds/LB82)




End file.
